


Open Invitation

by Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains



Series: All the Little Lights [4]
Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Asuka's in denial, Featuring Kaworu's classic 'chill', Fluff and Humor, Multi, Rei is questioning herself, Shinji's just confused as usual, Slice of Life, friend shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24685684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains/pseuds/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains
Summary: “Asuka will also be joining us,” Rei continued.Shinji’s expression turned to confusion.  “Asuka?”~~~~~~~~~In which Asuka comes over to hang out for an afternoon, and meets the whole crew of misfits.  Oh, and she may or may not dance around her feelings toward a certain someone.  It's okay though, because that someone is doing the same thing.
Relationships: Ayanami Rei/Souryuu Asuka Langley, Horaki Hikari/Suzuhara Touji, Ikari Shinji/Nagisa Kaworu
Series: All the Little Lights [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765918
Comments: 12
Kudos: 57





	1. No Time Like Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the fourth installment in the "All the Little Lights" series. It ended up being the longest one so far, but it's mostly complete now. I should be posting it over the next several days.
> 
> As with all the parts of this series, this is a blatant AU. There are some notable departures from canon material in it, so if something seems off in terms of world building, it's probably intentional.
> 
> Anyway, without further ado, let's get this show on the road!

_Lightning crackled overhead, the sky turbulent, unhinged.It had worked itself into a ceaseless frenzy, the clouds swollen past the point of grief, until their tears had ripped out from under their misty folds and been exiled to the earth below.Rain had soaked the ground then, and his boots squelched against it now as he trudged up the hillside.Peering upwards, he could barely make out the rocky silhouette of the cairn set at the top, framed against the intermittently lit sky.His eyes narrowing, Emerson plunged onward, knowing his goal was overhead.Without warning, a bolt of lightning touched down, not nearly as distant as the other forks.His eyes drawn back down toward the valley below where it had struck, he spotted flames sizzling about the branches of an unfortunate tree.More alarming, however, he spotted shadowy shapes moving along the edges of the firelight cast.Grimacing, he picked up his pace.They were getting closer.If they reached him before the ritual was complete, it would be all for nothing.Setting his feet as firm as he could into the slope that was turning to mud, he moved to take another step.The ground, however, had other plans, giving way into a miniature mudslide as he struggling to find purchase.Slipping, he flailed up, trying to stay on his feet, when—_

A knock at Rei’s door imposed on her imagination’s visualization of the text before her, dragging her back out of the book.Her brow knitting together for a moment in mild annoyance, she looked over toward the source of the intrusion.Sliding her bookmark into place to mark her page, she laid the book beside her.“Come in,” she said, just loud enough for whoever was on the other side to make it out.

The door swung open, revealing her brother as the interloper.Her frustration dissolved, and her face reverting back to its usual blank stare.“Hey Rei,” Shinji began casually, smiling amiably as he usually did.“How’s it going?”

She shrugged in response, genuinely not feeling that there was any noteworthy answer to his question.“Fine,” she answered impassively.

Shinji didn’t seem put off at all by this, knowing his sister as well he did.Instead, he merely nodded and continued in a friendly tone, “So, I was thinking of curry rice tonight.Does that work for you?”

Rei tilted her head, thinking for a few seconds, and then nodded.“Yes.”

“Great!”Shinji sounded inordinately enthusiastic over something as simple as her agreement to the meal he had in mind.She had a nagging suspicion that he had hung out with his friend, well, likely boyfriend at this point, Kaworu after getting off work.Doing so always seemed guaranteed to put him in a bright mood.She couldn’t be certain if they were actually a couple yet, considering they hadn’t confirmed anything officially, but even if they weren’t already together, she suspected they would be soon.The way Shinji all but beamed every time he even talked about Kaworu, not to mention the fact that this glow was more often than not accompanied by at least a moderate blush, and sometimes a more severe one, all pointed to the fact that Shinji was more than a little ‘interested’ in the ash-haired boy. All in all, Rei was glad about this.Kaworu seemed to give her brother nothing but happiness, something she thought the older Ikari most definitely deserved, especially considering all that he did for their family.It was good to see her brother gleam with joy.She sometimes thought it was as close to the feeling as she would ever get herself.It wasn’t a sensation, or a sentiment to which she thought she would ever be able to relate.She firmly believed that feelings of that nature weren’t something she would ever experience.Or at least, she had thought so until recently, when certain events, and perhaps, more specifically, a certain individual, had caused to reevaluate this conviction . . . _Don’t go there.You have pondered the sentiments you harbor regarding said individual numerous times, and each time, you inevitably manage to wind up even more confused than you were when you first considered your feelings.Nothing good can come of constantly contemplating something you can’t understand.Which is why you’re focusing on other things.To give yourself time.Because, reasonably, time to live with these feelings should make them easier to parse . . . because, yes, that makes sense . . . don’t start thinking anything else . . ._

Before Rei could wander too far down that particular flummoxing mental avenue, Shinji spoke again, reeling her attention back toward him, something for which she was more than a bit thankful.“By the way, I wanted to give you a heads up in advance, I’m off tomorrow, so some of my friends are probably gonna drop by.”

Rei nodded, acknowledging this.She had a fairly good idea of to which friends Shinji was most likely referring.Though he was moderately popular at Sarea High, and had a good-sized circle of acquaintances, there was a specific group of people that he preferred to hang out with, whatever he might say to the contrary.For most of high school, this group had consisted of three individuals.The first of these was Toji Suzuhara, a fellow member of the track team whom had been friends with Shinji since middle school, and who spent the majority of his free time engaged in some sort of athletic activity.In addition to participating in track, he was also a member of the school’s basketball, and had at one time attempted to play baseball as well, but had been forced to drop it due to ongoing conflicts with his track schedule.It was sufficient to say that sports were his passion.However, off the court and field, he also enjoyed combat-oriented games, particularly ones that involved graphic melee sequences.

The second member of this trio was Kensuke Aida, another member of the track team and long-time friend of Shinji, having met somewhere in elementary school.Though considerably less athletic than Toji, he still enjoyed sports to some degree, though hiking was in all likelihood his physical activity of choice, at least from what Rei had observed.He was also somewhat obsessed with all things war-related, particularly when it came to different equipment used for combat across history.She had never known someone who had as vested of an interested in archaic weaponry as he did.Nor had she ever met anyone else who had attempted to construct a ballista in his or her backyard, with questionable results.

Collectively, these three boys; her brother, Toji, and Kensuke, were known at Sarea High, and perhaps Asherdale as a whole, as the “Three Stooges.”While few people were exactly certain of where this title originated, only aware of the fact that it was now the trio’s common monicker, Rei had what could perhaps best be labelled ‘the inside scoop,’ andknew that this particular name had been first been applied to the trio by the non-Stooge member of Shinji’s close friend group.This was of course, none other than Hikari Horaki, who was currently the student council vice president at Sarea.Like Toji, she had technically been friends with Shinji since middle school, though her personal attachment to the group was probably the fact that she had been irregularly dating Suzuhara since that time.Their relationship was known to be rather . . . volatile, for lack of a better word.However, regardless of how many times they seemed to be on shaky terms due to an argument over one thing or another (an occurrence that was absolutely habitual), they consistently came together and mended their relationship.As a result, over the years, Hikari had begun to spend more and more time with the other Stooges, given that they were Toji’s closest friends, to the point where she became good friends with the other two boys as well.

What Horaki had most in common with the Stooges was her interest in athletic activities.In addition to serving as the student council vice president, she was also a member of the volleyball team at Sarea, and Rei could also remember that she had played basketball during her first year, before her ongoing tenure on the student council began.However, aside from sports, her other interests deviated somewhat from those of the boys’.When it came to other games and pastimes, or anything of the sort, she was more interested in those that revolved around challenging puzzles and using powers of deduction to solve dilemmas, rather than those centered around combat in manifold incarnations.Personally, Rei found Hikari’s interests in this area to be closer in line with her own, though she had never directly discussed such things with the vice president.While Rei had spent a moderate amount of time around the older girl, during those occasions when Shinji was able to persuade her to join his friends and he for some activity, the two of them had never really ended up talking directly with each other much, something which was a bit of a secret disappointment to Rei, in spite of the fact that it was in all reality a state of affairs for which she was primarily responsible.This lack of conversation could in part be attributed to the fact that, even around Shinji’s close friends, individuals whom she was more comfortable with than most of her classmates and peers, Rei was still far from talkative.She was no doubt less reserved with Toji, Kensuke, and Hikari than anyone else at the school (sans her brother of course), but that mainly meant that she actually partook in conversations with them when they were discussing something, not that she initiated or directed said conversations.As a result of this, the topics that Rei frequently provided her input or opinions on to the group were perhaps not ones which she would have selected, in that Kensuke was probably the most talkative member of the group, and somehow, conversations inevitably turned to discussing a famous battle or military innovation more often than one would expect to be logical.

Though these three individuals had, until recently, composed Shinji’s close friend group, over the course of this summer, Rei had observed another person being ‘inducted’ into the circle, so to speak.This was of course, one Kaworu Akagi, who since Rei had first met him almost two months before, had become a regular attendee of any ‘events’ or activities her brother organized, usually due to the fact that Shinji invited him.Rei didn’t find this to be especially surprising, given how obvious Shinji’s feelings toward the other boy were, nor did she find it to be a negative change.In her mind, Kaworu was, albeit hesitantly for the moment, until she got better acquainted with him, a positive addition to her brother’s ‘inner circle.’At the same time, she was curious to learn more about the ashen-haired boy, considering that in contrast to the Stooges and Hikari, she knew very little about him.This was perhaps the only factor which gave her pause in her perspective on Kaworu’s presence in her brother’s life.Rei preferred to know as much as reasonably possible about the people who spent time around her, and by extent, her bother.Some one undoubtedly deem her concern in this area a safety measure of sorts, with the objecting of ensuring her own wellbeing, something which she was somewhat inclined to agree with, though she would make the addendum of including the act of ensuring her brother’s wellbeing in her objectives as well.Simply put, based on her past experiences, Rei had decided it was safer to be around people who she understood.Individuals who she had observed long enough to identify their habits and dispositions, to the extent that she could predict with a fair degree of accuracy the type of actions they were likely to take.This was all to say then, that Rei wasn’t wholly enthused by the prospect of someone who was still a relatively unknown agent being so close to her brother, despite the fact that all signs pointed to Kaworu being a positive entity.The outcome of this was that Rei was more than a little curious to learn more about the ashen-haired boy, which had prompted her to accompany her brother and his friends when the offer was extended more frequently since Kaworu’s arrival than she had in some time.Of course, Rei also balanced this curiosity with her own guilt, covert and private as it might be, at intruding on her brother’s time with his friends, something which she habitually worried about doing.

“Anyway,” her brother continued, “We’re probably going to play _Cleric’s Call._ You’re welcome to join us, if you want to?”

Rei picked up on the upward lilt in her brother’s voice that accompanied the end of his statement, identifying the question posed within it.Just as much as he was extending an offer, he was also trying to gauge whether or not Rei was going to accept that offer.Furthermore, she had also noted the distinctive persuasiveness in his tone leading up to the last phrase, which gave her a good indication that Shinji was hoping she would agree to do so.Her brother trying to get her to be more social was a well-established part of the dynamic between them at this point, and something which she didn’t enough for it to seriously bother her, even if she wasn’t always appreciative of his efforts.The fact was, there were times when he failed to recognize that she wasn’t interested, regardless of how he attempted to sway her.She couldn’t fault him too much, however, for his endeavors, because she knew that his motives were sincere, even when they were a touch misguided.She wasn’t altogether certain whether this was one such instance or not.Her decision was wavering between the two options.In the end, she decided to give an answer that was representative of this momentary indecision.

“I’ll think about it,” she replied equably.

Her brother nodded at this, though she saw his expression fall slightly, a degree of disappointment setting in.She was well aware that he knew that when it came to her, ‘I’ll think about it’ was an ambiguous answer, but one which leaned toward the negative.It some cases, it was perhaps even interchangeable with an outright ‘no.’This happened not be one of those cases, but of course, Shinji had no way of ascertaining that, considering he lacked telepathic abilities.A small ghost of a smile haunted Rei’s mind for a moment, summoned by her own dry wit, utterly interior as it was.

“Really,” she added, her tone maintaining its even temperament.

“Okay.”Shinji gave her a thumbs up, but she could tell that the appendage to her original response hadn’t had more than a negligible impact on his perspective.There was an element of crestfallenness in his bearing, regardless of his skill at masking much of it.If she was forced to wager money on it, she would bet firmly that he had interpreted her answers as all but absolute ’no.’Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do to alter that perception, at least, not in the moment.Tomorrow would decide definitively whether or not her brother’s intuition was correct or not.

Realizing that their exchange had reached its natural end, Shinji closed with, “I’ll let you know when the food’s about ready,” and made to leave.

“Sounds good,” Rei replied as he departed, swinging the door shut in his wake.Rei glanced back over at her book once more and regarded it thoughtfully, her eyes focusing on the cover while her mind traveled elsewhere.

 _Cleric’s Call_ wasn’t a bad game, per se.In fact, there were aspects of it which she actually enjoyed.It was a synthesis of several styles, mixing first person combat sequences with more thought-provoking problem solving missions, in a semi-open world setting.It was most definitely a step up from of the purely combat-oriented games that Kensuke usually roped the group into playing.She rarely, if ever, took a turn at those.Even watching them became boring after a while.There was only so long she could observe players skirt around a map, stalking each other in attempts to eliminate the other players and emerge victorious, especially once she noticed that each player used relatively the same tactics each game.Her brother was a sniper, whether the game style was fantastical or modern.He would always make for an elevated position of tactical advantage, and attempt to eliminate his enemies from there.At least to start with, anyway.Toji was more a fan of the ‘full-frontal assault’ approach.This usually consisted of him charging around the map, armed with the heaviest weaponry available in the match, usually drawing plenty of attention to himself.He generally was eliminated first, either by her brother or Kensuke.Of the Stooges, Kensuke’s playing style was probably the most tedious to watch.He was, without fail, a camper.He would pick a location, and remain in that location as long as possible.This usually meant that he survived the longest.It also tended to result in him derailing the game to some extent, given that the match would often come down to her brother and Kensuke, both of whom were content to remain in place for long periods of time, essentially waiting to see who would become bored enough to venture out first.Rei took some comfort in noting that at this point in most games, it was not only her who was altogether bored.Both Toji and Hikari would lose interest fairly quickly once the game reached this stage.Out of the entire group, Rei had decided some time ago that Hikari’s playing style was the most genuinely interesting to observe.This was because she made a concerted effort to vary her tactics from match to match, rather than defaulting back to the same ones over and over again, unlike the boys.Unfortunately, this rarely resulted in her winning, a fact which Rei thought was somewhat unfair, considering that Kensuke’s tactics (and perhaps her brother’s as well, when she gave it thought), weren’t always in the spirit of good sport, so to speak.At least, that was the impression she got.

Outside of first-person combat games, similar patterns emerged across many of the games the group played, whether video or analog.The Stooges, her brother included, were creatures of habit when it came to their strategies.These strategies were also consistent across the board.Her brother would cautiously try to eliminate other players if possible, or coax people to support his side if the game fell more into that style of play.Toji was the unbridled risk taker, fiercely competitive, a healthy helping of braggadocio (if such a thing could be said to exist) inflecting his actions, representative of a supposed skill level that ultimately amount to little success (though, it could be said, in his defense, that he almost always handled his usually-early game defeats with a good degree of grace).Kensuke’s main tactic was to simply outlast everyone else, even if that meant understating his playing style to the point where it blatantly antagonized the other players, because he was (in Toji’s words of relative wisdom, such as they were) ‘hardly even playing!’Hikari, true to form, preferred to try numerous approaches.While this didn’t bring her many victories in some player vs. player combat games, due to Shinji and Kensuke’s tried and true ‘move as little as virtually possible’ approaches, it turned out that this approach usually meant she came out on top more often than not in most other games.While her level of competitiveness was perhaps not quite as high as her boyfriend’s (which was obnoxiously bombastic at times), it was backed by genuine skill (unlike Toji’s), which made Rei respect it considerably more.

However, Rei’s overarching sentiment when it came to gaming with her brother and his friends, was usually skepticism.Or perhaps, more accurately, disbelief.Disbelief in regard to the fact that neither Hikari or the three boys ever seemed to tire of the consistent patterns their games took.Rei, on the other hand, could not say the same.There was only so much to be said for doing what was essentially the same thing over and over, even if there were slight variations in the way it was done.All this was to say then, that when Rei did decide to join her brother and his friends, it was usually on an occasion when they weren’t playing games.Rei was tempted to maintain that pattern, and yet, at the same time, she had a suspicion that things might be different on this particular occasion, as it was more than likely that Kaworu would be joining the group. 

Rei’s only experience that included both Kaworu, and some form of what could be called gaming, had been during a visit to the arcade three weeks earlier for which her brother had managed to coax into joining the group.On this occasion, things had most definitely not proceeded according to her expectations.Kaworu had, in essence, ‘shaken things up.’Not only had he roped Shinji into playing _Flash Dance Evolution,_ something impressive in and of itself considering her brother practically loathed dancing games, arguing that he ‘had two left feet and the balance of a brick wall’ (which personally, she thought was both a poor analogy, considering brick walls were fairly stable constructions when built properly, and also inaccurate, as she had witnessed her brother dancing through their living room on multiple occasions with his headphones in, and clumsy was not the word she would use to describe his dance skills — the better term there was amusing), he had also beaten Kensuke’s high score on the _Star Trek: Voyager_ game, a feat which had previously been written off by the group (and most of their classmates who visited the arcade) as nigh-impossible.Thus, it seemed fairly probable that Kaworu could very well change the standard pattern tomorrow as well.

As Rei considered this probability, visualizing several possible scenarios for how things might turn out the next day, taking into account what she knew of Kaworu (not nearly enough for accurate predictions, but she did know a few things at least), and building from there, a new, momentarily confusing thought entered her mind.She had been considering the games that might be played in addition to _Cleric’s Call,_ summoning to her mind the familiar image of her brother’s game shelf.This visualization, however, called to her mind the much newer memory of a different, and yet, fairly similar shelf, one which she had only seen a handful of times, rather than far too many to count.She blinked, her mental image shattering, as the unexpected thought caught her off guard. _Why?,_ was her initial reaction, as if her subconscious was something that could be interrogated with any great success.In this particular case, however, interrogating her subconscious proved unnecessary, as her conscious mind was all too eager to provide plenty of possible explanations.The ‘all to eager’ portion of her own response only served to unsettle her more, though not in the most unpleasant way, a realization which only served to disquiet her more, but yet again, not in the way she wanted it to.Or, at least, the way she thought she wanted it to.Hopefully.Probably.Maybe?Possibly?The resolve she sought had dissolved into a nervous anticipation that curled around her fingertips teasingly when she tried to grasp and shape into a form familiar to her.And that uncooperative attitude only served to give birth to more of the stuff, until it hung about her brain, mist-like, indefinite . . . and . . . pleasant?She shook her head, needing the back of her skull into her bedspread, as if the cloth could help clear a fog that was both entirely imagined and entirely of her own creation, but undeniably present nonetheless.Present and powerful, to be precise.Powerful enough to exude some manner of immoderate influence, undoubtedly so.At least, that was the sort of logic that Rei used to explain her actions to herself.Because it made more sense for her to tell herself that she was under the sway of some half-imagined, half-expressed illusionary haze that clouded her vision and obscured her judgement, than to acknowledge to herself that the choice was hers, and hers alone, lucid and determined.This choice of course being the action of, after a long, sluggish phase of indecision, Rei’s eyes partway frozen, glued slush-like to the ceiling, rising from her prone state and crossing to her desk, to grab her phone and bring her fingers to the keyboard. 

She hesitated again there, a few more seconds passing, her fingers protesting against the movement she commanded, two parts of herself in conflict over the what the action would be: an acknowledgement, however minute, however potential inconsequential and pointless, of something inconvenient, something revelatory, something paradigm-threatening.An acknowledgement that was irrevocable, that was spur on a cascade, even if it was one entire contained beneath her skin and scalp, never spoken, never seen beyond her mind’s eye.The avalanche would still occur, and her beliefs, her convictions, of what she knew to be true, what she had identified in herself and named as fact, would be buried beneath the descending snow, a cold grave for false fiction, held so close to her heart for long enough to become inseparable.She would lose that explanation.That understanding.She would be forced to reevaluate.Not just the direct fact itself, but all that which stemmed from it.It was awful, and awesome, and staggering, and spectacular, the dominoes fingertips and characters smaller than the borders of her nails could topple.The weight they were capable of bearing and tossing, both physical and mental.Like ants, lifting something far heavier than their minuscule frames, proving the impossible ratio a deception.And then doing so regularly, to add insult to injury, piling the evidence high.Like the characters piled together against the backlit screen, forming symbols recognizable as words, words recognizable as a phrase.Phrases and sentencing flying back and forth, casting into the virtual ether, suspending in the nothingness and simultaneously in the everywhere, perhaps traveling a world away, flitting through circuitry built into towering processors, international titrations occupying another continent altogether, before flinging back across the global, descending through the matrix back down toward their point of origin, and at last, coming to rest yards away from they began.Their journey was so ironically long, Rei thought, a comical loop completed in a span of time too quick for comprehension or analysis.When they finally reached their destination, however, they could be parsed, studied, dissected, interpreted, and decoded.They could be picked apart to find the meaning, said and unsaid unlike.They could be misconstrued, taken poorly, induce confusion.Be ignored.Read.Forgotten.Remembered. Until, one way or another, in their summation, they bound themselves together into something which held greater significant than its individual components.A discourse recognizable as an invitation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might be able to tell, this fic is going to be an Asurei-centric one when it comes to ships (even though the main focus is probably introducing the rest of the crew, so to speak). For any Kawoshin fans reading though, never fear! There will be some Kawoshin as well, because I'm always a sucker for Kawoshin. My overall idea for this series is to alternate between Asurei and Kawoshin-focused installments, so the next couple fics in the series after this will probably be more focused on our favorite adorkable boyfriends. For now though, it's time for Asurei to keep Asurocking! Or, more accurately, freak out over their feelings toward each other. They'll work it out . . . eventually . . .


	2. On That You Can Rely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asuka and Shinji are both uncertain, albeit for different reasons.

_Hoping against hope that his suspicions would be proven false, he glanced through the sight.He felt his lungs clench, the breath catching in his throat.They were here!—_

Asuka glared at the flashing cursor on her screen spitefully.It blinked back indifferently, seeming all too pleased to serve as a steady, pulsating reminder of her lack of inspiration.She leaned back in her chair, popping her knuckles as she frowned.Staring down her laptop for the majority of the past hour had been a fruitless effort, aside from the stiffness she could feel in her temples, and the spottiness at the edges of her peripheral vision. _Fantastic, I can practically feel the headache already.Just lovely._ She sighed, closing her eyes to shut out the light, the white from her screen and the dull orange from her lamp that combined into a nauseating pale ochre when they mingled.

_I haven’t updated in three weeks now . . . so much for my ‘updates every Friday.’ Ugh.If I get one more PM asking if I’ve abandoned it . . . I mean, seriously?Are you kidding me?Have a little damn patience!Just because I miss a couple weeks doesn’t mean it’s discontinued!That’s just common sense!Then again, some readers don’t know what logic is, apparently . . . I mean, the reviews on ‘Love’s Catalyst’ still ask when I’m going to write more, and that literally says DISCONTINUED in all caps at the beginning of the summary!Talk about dense!I guess I should be flattered . . . people actually still like it enough that they want more of it . . . which means they either have no taste, or are still in junior high, because that thing is a dumpster fire and a half.Still can’t believe I posted that garbage.Then again, I was like thirteen, so I guess that’s a reasonable explanation.Still . . . Dramione is such a trash ship.Why was I ever into that again?Oh yeah, because I was emo cringe in ’07.Bleh.Better question, better question.Why do I still have it posted?Oh yeah, because it’s the most popular thing I’ve ever written.Because people are stupid, and apparently would rather read trashy stories about characters who were so OOC they were basically Hot Topic poster kids . . . yay!Although . . . some of the new reviews made it sound like the reviewers think it’s satire, sooooooo, I guess I’ll take that.I kinda wish it was too._

Asuka leaned back in again, prying her eyes open to inspect her largely-incomplete chapter once more. _Alright, gotta write something.Come on, you know what you want to happen . . . just write it already!_ She reached out, but her fingers lost momentum before they could press the keys.Her hands hovered awkwardly over the keyboard as she chewed her lip thoughtfully. _Oh yeah, I can definitely feel that headache coming on._ Bringing her hands down from their suspension, she mashed keys at randomly, spewing textual vomit out onto the white background of the work. _gtheuwgjkhngrgurgoierfwet4i4thgiuefwekjghwhgio.Oh yeah, what great literary insight.Such skill, such mastery.That’s some Pulitzer-quality shit right there._ Grimacing, she forced down the backspace key, returning the nonsense back into the virtual abyss from whence it emerged.The cursor pulsed once more, taunting her authorial impotence.Grinding her molars together in irritation, she tested out a sentence. _He spun, rushing toward the access port._ Shaking her head, she deleted it, sending it to the same oblivion as her textual heap.A second sentence soon emerged. _He bent to his knees, taking cover beneath the lip of the rooftop, as though the beasts would somehow spot him if he failed to conceal himself._ She regarded this option for several moments, before it too experienced a similar demise to her first attempt. _Well, third time’s the charm.Here’s your big chance._ She smirked caustically, directing the mordant expression inward. _Guess this one better be brilliant._

Any tertiary attempts at narrative triumph were cast aside as Asuka’s phone buzzed, introducing a new light onto the desk as its screen lit to show a new message.The introduction dispelled Asuka’s concentration.She grabbed the device and surveyed the text.

**Rei I.:** What are you doing tomorrow?

Asuka tilted her head in curiosity for a moment, wondering if the neighboring girl was interested in coming over to jam through some songs.They had done so several times since their initial meeting, and Asuka had to admit, the blue-haired girl was just as talented of a musician as she had seemed on the day they met.She had enjoyed their sessions playing together so far.Despite the fact that Rei was mostly interested in playing more technical, instrumental guitar-focused pieces, she also took on the metal Asuka preferred with an equal amount of dedication and concentration.From what Asuka had seen, most of her early observations of Rei had proven to be true to one degree or another.She was very much a reserved individual, who carried herself with a degree of equanimity intense enough to be almost disconcerting.When she did express emotions of any sort, such as the occasional amount of enthusiasm or appreciation during a run-through of a song, it was a subdued expression, conveyed through subtle changes in her bearing.Very much the opposite of how Asuka expressed her emotions. _The ones I choose to express, that is_ , she corrected herself, adding an addendum to the original thought. _I’m pretty blatant about what I feel, but only when I decide I want to show something.It seems like even when Rei decides she wants to show her emotions, they’re never loud or overstated.She shows them through minute changes._ Asuka had determined that small hints of a smile, a softening of the girl’s featuring, and a vague, or a barely discernible lilt in her normally monotone delivery were all signs that Rei was happy.Picking up on these signs, however, required some effort. _You have to watch out for them.Otherwise you’ll miss them.It’s almost a challenge like that._ Asuka had decided that she enjoyed interacting with Rei, in part because of the perception and attention it required, and in part because Rei was original. _You could almost call it unique . . . or refreshing . . . ehh, probably not that last one.Makes it sound like she’s an orange juice commercial or something stupid like that.Bad adjective.Oh well._ What it came down to was that Rei was different than most of the friends Asuka had spent time with in Terahburg, and that difference was a positive one. _Even if it’s not easy to describe without falling into advertising slogan pitfalls._

Shaking away her musings, Asuka fired back a response:

**Asuka K.:** Not much, tbh.Why?

**Rei I.:** You like video games, right?

Asuka blinked, not expecting the question.Wracking her memory, she didn’t think it was something that had ever come up in conversations between the two of them.She realized that for the most part, they had really only talked about music when they did converse.Not that they talked a lot outside of the times when they hung out to jam.Rei, at least up to this point, hadn’t struck Asuka as the most talkative person, keeping in line with her personality in general.Thinking for a moment or two, Asuka came to the conclusion that Rei must have spotted her Xbox or the shelves full of games during one of her visits to the house.Though, she was still a little surprised that Rei had made the assumption that it was hers.Then again, Rei was aware that Asuka was an only child, so in a way, that was more of an explanation. _I guess I was the most logical choice.She’s never met Kaji or Misato, so she has no way of knowing that at least some of those_ _belong to them.Well, a few anyway.Most of them are mine.The ones actually worth playing, anyway.Why play sports games when you can just play the actual sport?Then again, who knows if they even have an ice rink in this town.Or like hockey, for that matter.So, Kaji’d probably be outta luck there.Guess he’s stuck with NHL 10._ Whatever the reasoning behind it, Rei’s intuition had been correct.

**Asuka K.:** Yeah, why do you ask?

**Rei I.:** Want to come over tomorrow?I’m going to be playing _Cleric’s Call_ with my brother and his friends.You could join us.

From all the Asuka had observed, Rei wasn’t one to beat around the bush when she had a question.That was a quality Asuka appreciated in the other girl, and a mannerism they both shared.When they wanted an answer, they got to asking for it. _Otherwise, you’re just wasting time.Both yours and theirs._

Asuka considered the offer, reading through the invitation a second time.She was moderately aware that Rei had an older brother, one who was approximately the same age as herself, from Rei briefly mentioning him during a past conversation.That being said, she had never met Rei’s brother, knew nothing about him aside from the fact that he existed, and at the moment, was struggling to so much as recall his name.She was fairly certain that Rei had told her it on the occasion when she had mentioned the fact that she had a brother. _At least, I’m pretty sure she did.Maybe . . . it was something with an ’s’ at the start.I think . . ._

Asuka knew there would be some definite benefits to accepting Rei’s invitation.After all, she assumed that Rei’s brother and his friends most likely attended Sarea High as well, and there wasn’t necessarily any harm in meeting more of her future classmates.To the contrary, it would probably be beneficial.It might also give her the potential opportunity to find out more about Asherdale in general, which would also be a positive.As much as it irked her, she hadn’t really had the opportunity to explore the town much.In fact, she hadn’t really had the chance to get out much at all.Unpacking had been an excruciatingly long ordeal that somehow managed to take a solid three weeks. _Though, to be fair, part of that had to do with the fact that Misato’s terrible with remembering to label things, and Kaji didn’t even bother most the time even if he remembered because he ‘trusts his instincts to remember what’s in the box.’Because yeah, that makes a whole lotta sense. So, while they were working, I was left trying to search through a garage full of ‘mystery boxes.’Oh joy!You never know what you might find, every one has a special prize inside!Like spare dishes!Old stereo components!A tower computer that I’m pretty damn sure runs on Windows XP!Or a set of rugs that hasn’t been in style since the 70s, or 90s, or somewhere in there!How can people who are so incredibly disorganized be military personnel again?I mean, I sure wouldn’t trust someone who couldn’t remember where or how they packed an entire chest-of-drawers with national security!And hey, well we’re on the subject, I feel as though it would be prudent for them to throw in ‘ungodly levels of alcohol consumption’-testing in with regular drug testing!I dunno how they’d do it, but there’s got to be a way!Because no one who can polish off that much vodka in a night should be able to function effectively the next day and not die of a hangover strong enough to kill a bull!This is some alien, non-human biology conspiracy here!If they could reverse engineer her powers, they could create some sort of super-weapon!Take high-functioning soldiers to a whole new level!But hey, they still wouldn’t be able to organize things to save their lives, so what would it matter?!_ Before this line of hypothetical inquiry could progress any further, Asuka noted that her thoughts had drifted just the slightest bit off-course, and nudged them back closer to the topic at hand. __

Compounding the inordinately long process of unpacking, something which Asuka had largely been left responsible for, given that straight away, Misato and Kaji had been working long hours out at the base, the fact that Asukadidn’t exactly know people in Asherdale yet (read: Rei was the only person she had actually gotten to know at all since arriving), and the fact that she didn’t have a car all combined to result in her not leaving her house aside from a couple shopping trips.And even those were for essentials, accompanying Misato on the weekend, rather than the more interesting variety, where shopping was really just a vehicle for socializing with friends. _Of course, guess that’d be kind of impossible, since I don’t really have friends here.Well . . . who’d be interested, anyway.I get the impression Rei probably isn’t the type of person who likes to shop for fun._

Though she came up with other excuses, when all was said and done, the biggest factor in her lack of activity since arriving in Asherdale was the fact that she hadn’t met people.If she was being honest with herself, unpacking hadn’t taken up all her time, and even though she didn’t have a car during the day, she did have her bike.And Asherdale, at least from what she had seen, really wasn’t that big.She could probably get a fair amount of places solely by biking.It wouldn’t be that hard. _But what’s there to do here anyway?I’d just be wandering around until I found something.It’s not like they have big attractions.The kind that really jump out.Or even anything in the ballpark.You search for ‘things to do in Asherdale,’ and Google hands you an art gallery (with a website that looks like it hasn’t been updated since it was made, and photos that make it look like the primary demographic it’s trying to appeal to are hipster retirees, because they’re totally a thing), and a couple museums (and as thrilling as I’m sure the ‘Asherdale Historical Association’ thinks their museum is, I’m not so easily persuaded.Ditto on the ‘Northwestern Reptile Museum.’I mean, seriously, why does a town with a population size that’s only a little more than half of the way to six digits need a museum devoted solely to reptiles?!What demographic are they trying to reach?Is there any demographic for them to reach in the first place?).Oh, and of course, the lake.That is just about the only thing that seems to bring ’tourists,’ if they can be called that, to the area.And it’s, oh, I dunno, like twenty-five miles out of town.Which means I’m sure as hell not biking there!_

All in all then, from a purely practical (well, relatively speaking, since practical in this case referred to the purpose of reinvigorating her social life) standpoint, Asuka decided that accepting Rei’s offer would be a positive choice.And of course, in addition to all of the practical ‘benefits’ that might come about as a result of it, Asuka couldn’t deny that she did enjoy’s Rei company, and she wouldn’t mind hanging out with her more frequently. 

Asuka was unprepared for the line of thinking this particular thought set in motion. _Oh yeah, you definitely wouldn’t mind.I’m pretty sure you’d— nope.Not going there.Focus on one thing at a time.You have a new town to figure out, and in the fall, a new social scene to learn the ropes of.If you want things to go well in Asherdale, you have to focus.You can’t get distracted by things.You only have a year here.You don’t have to time to make mistakes and then fix your reputation later.You have to be on it from the word go.And that means you can’t worry about . . . crushes . . . especially when there’s nothing that would come of it anyway.It’s pointless, it’s wasting your time, and you don’t need to think about how the first girl you’ve met is pretty cute, and you don’t mind that she’s way more quiet than the people you’d normally date, because there’s just something about her, and — full stop.Reverse that shit like the Cha Cha Slide.Focus on things that are actually going to pan out.You’re gonna meet more people.That’s great.That’s a good step.Daydreaming, or night dreaming (hell, I guess that’s just regular dreaming, isn’t it?) isn’t going to get where you anywhere.Because there’s just about no way she’d reciprocate those feelings.I mean, who knows, she might already be with someone.Or she might not roll that way.Or she might just not be interested.Face it, you don’t really know that much about her.Not nearly enough to ask her out.And at the end of the day, it’s just a crush anyway.You just moved to a new place, and she’s the first person to really talk to you, and she’s nice, and she’s cute, and it’s a crush.And maybe you are missing Nadia, even if the decision to break it off was mutual, and still better than trying to do long distance, because you know you’re not going to be going back East, and she wants to go overseas when she graduates anyway.That would make sense.That’s a reasonable explanation.You’re just lonely, and she’s the person there.That’s all it is.That’s all it is . . ._

Asuka sighed, tapping the back of her phone case irregularly, rolling her nails over the surface.She wasn’t particularly swayed by her own logic, and the explanations she tried to feed herself rang more hollow than she would have liked.She had made her decision though, and she wasn’t going to back out of it because of some foolish feelings.She could shove them down and out of the way easily enough.She wasn’t going to let whatever conflict was going on in some corner of her mind hold her back and direct her actions.

**Asuka K.:** Sure, what time?

**Rei I.:** Idk yet, but when I do, I’ll let you know.

**Asuka K.:** Okay, works for me.

**Rei I.:** Alright

Asuka paused, wondering if she should reply with anything more, but after a moment’s consideration, opted not to. _It’s not like there’s much else to say about that.Unless I actually tried to start up a conversation.And who knows how that would go.She doesn’t seem like the type of person to just talk about whatever.Chances are she’d just go with it to be polite._ Rather than formulating a substantive reply, Asuka decided to throw out a ‘thumbs-up’ as her closing remark.Rei didn’t respond to this, though Asuka hadn’t anticipated that she would.

The invitation had been met with an act of acceptance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shinji was, just as Rei had expected, in the kitchen when she found him.He didn’t notice her arrival, his attention fixed on the pot perched in front of him on the stovetop, carefully measuring out precise measurements of spices and adding them to the contents within said pot.When it came to cooking, Rei knew her brother took things seriously, to say the least.He prided himself (well, as much as he someone who did his best to maintain a generally humble attitude could be prideful without coming off as a hypocrite or an ass) in being a good chef, an assertion which Rei wholeheartedly backed up, albeit in her traditional, somewhat understated way.There was no doubt that cooking was as much an art and a passion for her brother as it was a practical skill.He certainly approached it with more enthusiasm, not mention considerably more flair, than he did some of his other pursuits, such as track.Rei suspected that the only thing which brought her brother great ebullience was music.Unsurprisingly then, he frequently combined the two, putting something on in the living room’s stereo while he nearly waltzed about the kitchen, concocting some culinary creation in sync with symphonic strains.Such was the case tonight.A slight flourish, perhaps even a bounce, was visible in her brother’s movements as selected and combined in ingredients to the tune of a crooning cello, which Rei paused to analyze for a few moments before identifying as Bach’s _Cello Suite No. 5 in D Major_.She thought it was the Prelude to be specific, but wasn’t absolutely positive, her expertise in that particular area falling short of her brother’s knowledge.

Rei leaned up against the counter, propping her elbows against it and resting her chin in her palms as she watched her brother’s subtle dance.She had long ago determined that she found this particular ritual rather amusing.At the same time, its familiarity was also comforting in a way.It had been consistent for years now, ever since her brother had essentially laid claim to the kitchen as his domain, something which their mother had been happy enough to acquiesce to, considering the unpredictability of her work schedule and the increasing frequency of late nights on-base, and which Rei had had no qualms with either, given her culinary prowess was nigh nonexistent.The extent of her skills in the kitchen ended shortly after pasta and rice.Shinji on the other hand, seemed capable of preparing practically anything he set his mind to, as long as he could get a hold of the right ingredients.

And so, every night, without fail, a particular pattern emerged.Shinji would usually stop in whenever he got home to say hello and let Rei know what he was planning on fixing, more so out of habit than to actually seek approval (Rei couldn’t recall any occasion on which she had actively disapproved of what he decided to make.If something didn’t turn out well, he would either improve the recipe the next time around, or not fix it again).Afterward, he could be found busy in the kitchen, music circulating through the house.Their mother usually arrived by the time the food was ready, though it had been more frequent as of late that they ate without her, due to her extended hours.It was all but unheard of for her to arrive earlier than dinner.Rei had come to appreciate this pattern.She knew what to expect each night, and she was glad of it.

Clearing her throat just loud enough for him to hear, Rei drew Shinji’s attention.He glanced back over his shoulder, the rhythm in his motions slowing.His face was sunny, crossed by a smile.He was clearly in his element.“What’s up?,” he asked brightly.

“I’ll join you all tomorrow,” Rei answered directly.

Her brother’s smile widened further.“Great,” he replied, trying to sound happy, and yet casual, though Rei saw the greater satisfaction hidden behind the veneer of nonchalance.She reasoned that he was a bit more glad of her involvement than he wanted to let on, most likely due to his ongoing concern about her.

“Asuka will also be joining us,” she continued.

Shinji’s expression grew confused.“Asuka?”

Rei realized that she hadn’t actually mentioned Asuka’s existence to her brother yet, and he hadn’t been home on any of the days when she had visited her new neighbor.“Asuka Kaji,” she responded.“She lives next door.”

Shinji tilted his head, looking very much perplexed.“I thought the Martins lived next door? Or was it the Eltons?”

While Shinji’s musings at the suspected surname of the elderly couple who had lived next door for a number of years seemed to be genuine, Rei couldn’t help but see the opportunity for a small literary joke at his expense.“I think it was the Woodhouses,” she offered blankly.

“Wait, really?”It was clear that he had taken her comment at face value, the wit lost on him.She went with it anyway.And to think, there were people who said she didn’t have a sense of humor.

“Yes.”

“Oh.Well, then I thought the Woodhouses lived next door.”

“They moved.Months ago now.”

“They did?”Her brother looked utterly surprised by this piece of information.

“Yes.The Kaji family moved in a month or so ago.”

“Huh.I mean . . . okay.So . . . whose Asuka’s?”

“Their daughter.She’s approximately your age, I believe.She’s a drummer.I’ve been going over to play music with her for the past three weeks.”

Shinji blinked, looking as though he was having some difficulty processing all of this.“You’ve . . . you’ve been to her house?You hang out with her?”

“Yep.She heard me playing one day, and came over to investigate.That’s how we met.”

“Oh . . .”This didn’t seem to have cleared things up for him much.

“So you say,” Rei offered dryly.

“Huh?”

“You keeping saying ‘oh.’”

“Oh . . . yeah.Guess you’re right.”Shinji chuckled, sounding more than a little awkward, and quite nonplussed.Rei decided she might as well offer a bit more information, if only to try to help her bewildered sibling out.

“She’s going to be attending Sarea high in the fall.I think we’re both going to be trying out for jazz band.”

Contrary to what Rei had intended, this seemed to only bring down further bemusement on her brother.“You’re going to be trying out for jazz band?”

“You sound surprised.Why, would you rather I not?”

“No, no, you definitely should!,” Shinji hastily exclaimed.“I just wasn’t expecting that.”

“I see,” Rei commented.“By the way, it looks as though your pot’s about to boil over.”

Shinji swiveled back to find that Rei was in fact correct, let out a quickly-cut yelp of sorts, and frantically turned down the burner, just in time to advert most of the impending disaster.He grabbed a handful of paper towels, and set about cleaning what had escaped over the brim in spite of her warning.

“What time should I tell her?,” Rei asked, still watching passively.She knew it would most likely only alarm her already off-balanced brother if she tried to help, given that it would be another unexpected move on her part, and she had deduced that she had already surprised him enough for one evening.

Shinji shot a quick glance away from his cleaning.“What?”

“What time are they coming over?”

“Oh.We talked about one.”

“Alright.Thanks.”She nodded, and headed back towards her room.

Behind her, she heard a faint, “Oh yeah, no problem,” infused with nervous laughter.


	3. Gonna Straighten Out Your Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shinji's friends are on the . . . interesting side.

“Not gonna lie man, every time I see your gamer tag, I kind of want to throw up in my mouth.Just a little,” Toji drawled, leaning back and resting his head on the back of the loveseat.It was obviously bait.They all knew it.It was definitely not the first time he had said something along the same lines, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.Shinji rolled his eyes, more entertained than annoyed. _Here we go again._

Kensuke, true to form, rose to the occasion, playing the part of the offended victim with the skill of someone who’d run through the bit plenty of times.“Hey!What’s that supposed to mean?”

_There’s no way you don’t know exactly what he’s going to say next Kensuke,_ is all Shinji could think.

“All I’m saying dude,” Toji replied casually, with just a touch of snark, “Is that it’s so cringey, it’s painful.Think of our eyes dude, our poor eyes!”

“Your eyes?”Kensuke played along with faux-outrage.“You’re not the one who has glasses!You’ll be fine!”

“You say that, but bro, I might legit need to call up my optometrist if I have to stare at that for the entire quest.”

“Well then,” Kensuke sneered, without any real venom in his voice, “Try to look somewhere else.Like at your own screen, so you don’t fail the quest for us.”

Leaning forward again, Toji flapped his hand dismissively, “Hey, that was just one time.And me getting eaten by ghouls still wasn’t nearly as painful as your gamer tag, so you can bug off dude.”

“What’s wrong with ‘Tankluvrboy69?!’”Kensuke protested sassily, doing his best to simultaneously sound innocent and actually curious, which was most likely easier said than done, as the act didn’t fool anyone.

“What were you, twelve when you came up with that?”Toji shot back grinning.

“I’ll have you know, I was thirteen!”

“That just makes it worse dude,” Toji said sagely, taking on a somber bearing as he continued in a terrible impression that Shinji couldn’t identify.“He who fails to grow out of juvenile habits is destined to fail at life as well.” _Is he trying to be Gandalf or Austin Powers?Because I don’t want to be mean, but that sounds like the worst of both worlds._

“Oh, and you’re one to talk, oh wise one!,” Kensuke retorted, doing his best to not burst out into laughter.

It was at this point that Kaworu interjected into the mock-argument.“You know, I wouldn’t say that someone with the name ‘RedvBlueb4itwascool’ really has any room to be criticizing other people’s monickers, regardless of how bad they are,” he remarked smoothly, looking cool and composed as usual.Both Toji and Kensuke turned to stare at him for a moment, not expecting the interruption into their traditional routine, however tired it had gotten by this point.

Seeing an opportunity, Hikari jabbed her elbow into Toji beside her, who lurched over, gasping at the unanticipated attack.“Ack, bro down!,” he declared dramatically, before bursting into laughter.Kensuke soon followed.The rest of the group watched the outburst, a raised eyebrow on Kaworu’s part, more eyerolls on Hikari’s, a couple chuckles from Shinji, and an unenthused stare from Rei.

As the duo’s laughter subsided, Hikari remarked, “He has a point you know.”

Kaworu nodded amiably in her direction.“Why thank you, I’m glad someone sees reason.”

Toji shrugged, and brushed it off, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.I guess I’ll deal with it for now, Tankboy.”

“Damn straight,” Kensuke announced triumphantly.

“Don’t let it go to your head dude!”Toji fired back, unwilling to let Kensuke have the last word.

“Are we actually going to play or not?,” Hikari interrupted cynically.

“Oh,” Toji paused.“Yeah.”

“Great.Then let’s do it.”

The attention in the room flitted back to the tv screen, where the players’ characters had not been waiting for quite some time on a hillside looking down on a classical villa that looked like something straight out of a tourist brochure for the Italian countryside.“Why do I get the feeling that place is crawling with undead?,” Kensuke mused aloud.

“Probably because it is,” Kaworu stated insouciantly.

“You don’t sound too worried,” Toji said, a hint of a challenge in his voice.

“That’s because I’m not.”

“Who’s this place belong to anyway?,” Hikari inquired skeptically.

“Oh, Alexandru Von something-something,” Toji answered offhandedly.

Shinji threw his two cents into the discussion.“I’d say there’s about a ninety-percent chance he’s a vampire.”

Kaworu turned to look at his boyfriend, pursed his lip momentarily, and then turned back to face the Kensuke, pointing toward Shinji with his thumb.“I’m with him.Definitely a vampire.”

“Well of course he’s a vampire!,” Toji declared, as if it was the most blatant truth in the world.“He literally has ‘Von’ in his name guys!What do you think he is, a specter?This bastard might as well be sparkling, he’s so vampiric!”

Hikari’s eyerolls intensified.“That joke got old like a month after the movie came out, you realize.”

“I’m just saying . . .,” Toji began.The rest of the group, even Rei (though her delivery lacked the emphasis the other members put on their statements), finished in unison with him, having heard the line enough times to know it from memory (even Kaworu had heard it a couple times already).“Vampires shouldn’t sparkle!”

Hikari followed this chorus with a drawn-out, clearly sardonic sigh.“Great, now that we’ve agreed we’re going to fighting a vampire, can we get on with the actual gameplay?”

“Alright, alright,” Toji responded.He moved his character down the slope, his screen splitting off from the others as he moved away.“Don’t wait up!”

“Yes, go ahead and charge in, oh might dwarf paladin!,” Kensuke proclaimed dryly.“And we’ll clean up your bones when the ghouls get you!”

“Enough with the ghouls!,” Toji snapped back.“That was one damn time.Don’t jinx it!”

The rest of the playing members of the group, otherwise known as Hikari, Kensuke, and Kaworu, moved their characters to follow Toji’s paladin’s eager lead.After the paladin, the company that set off toward the gates to the villa consisted of an elf druid (Hikari’s choice for this quest), a human war priest (Kensuke’s selection), and an elf grove tender (Kaworu’s PC).Shinji and Rei had both chosen to sit out for this particular quest.Shinji wasn’t altogether sure of Rei’s reasoning behind her choice, but he knew his.He couldn’t help but occasionally sneak a subtle glance over toward his sister.Her gaze had been alternating from the tv to the front door since the group had gathered.He was altogether positive that she watching and waiting for one Asuka Kaji to arrive. _Whoever she is, she must be pretty special.Because this is . . . weird._ To put it frankly, Shinji was flummoxed.Nothing about what his sister had told him the night before made much sense to him.On the contrary, the more she had told him, the more confused he had become, and today hadn’t been any better so far. _She seems . . . almost nervous.No, not nervous.That wouldn’t be as unusual.Rei gets nervous sometimes.I can tell it, even if it a lot of people can’t.No . . . this is something else.This is almost . . . like she’s excited.Like she’s . . .eager?But that doesn’t make any sense.Rei doesn’t get that way when it comes to people.Maybe over a new book, once in a blue moon, if that.But never over a. . . a friend?Is she Rei’s friend?How come I just found out about her last night?I mean . . . I guess that’s not that weird.I mean, Rei’s never told me about anybody she’s been friends with before . . . but, I mean . . . has she really had people hat she was actually friends with before?_

_It sounds like they must talk, at least, based on what she said, I’m gonna assume so.And Rei’s been over to her house to play music . . . it’s all so . . . new.What am I even supposed to make of that?And on top of that, did I seriously not even notice that the . . . er, Woodhouses (I think that’s what she said) moved, and a new family moved in?Really?I know I’m gone a lot, and I’ve been busy with work, and with, umm, Kaworu—_ a faint blush crept over Shinji’s cheeks, and he was glad the rest of the group was engaged in the game — _but I didn’t think I’d been that busy.If I never noticed that, if I missed that entirely, because I’ve been so busy, did I miss other things?Has Rei been okay?I know she’s been alone here a lot lately during the day.But she usually doesn’t mind peace and quiet.But . . . maybe she really does mind it . . . maybe she’s not happy.I don’t actually know.I should try to talk to her more when I am home.I haven’t really thought much about it since Kaworu and I started dating . . . I guess my mind’s been on other things_ (the blush darkened a bit more, and Shinji was even more glad that his friends weren’t looking in his direction).

_I wonder what Asuka’s like . . . Rei said she’s about my age.And she must like music, if she’s a drummer.And she’s going to audition for jazz band.And so is Rei.Wow.Even I’ve never been able to convince Rei to do that.You know, based on that alone, I really want to meet her.Just to see what she’s like.She must have some pretty powerful persuasive skills.But Rei wouldn’t just let herself be talked into something she’s been afraid to do by someone who knows how to make a decent argument.Rei’s pretty good at seeing through insincerity and posturing, and all of that.So this Asuka must be . . . real, I guess.I don’t think Rei would actually spend time with her if she wasn’t.And I definitely don’t think that she’d invite her over.Then again, Rei’s never invited anyone over, so I really can’t say that for sure.I mean, who knows?_

_She better be real though.Genuine, I mean.She better not be taken advantage of Rei, or anything like that.If she’s manipulating her or something, I’m not gonna let that slide.I’m gonna make sure that–_ Shinji was pulled out of his thoughts by Toji loudly exclaiming, “Watch your back dude!”

Directing his attention back to the tv screen, Shinji saw that his friends had made it through the villa gates and were now engaged in a full-on melee with a pack of what looked to be ghouls swarming about them in the courtyard within.

“Damn, these things came out of nowhere!,” Kensuke complained.“It’s like they didn’t even spawn until we were halfway to the front door!”

“If we die, I hope you know I’m blaming you!,” Toji responded.“You chose this quest, so you get us out of this mess, war priest!Use some of that combat prowess, or whatever it is you said you gave him!”

“Don’t worry, I preloaded him with radiant blast,” Kensuke confirmed.“That should come in handy.”

“Hell yeah!”

Shinji’s eyes moved to Kaworu next to him.Much like Hikari over on the love seat, he seemed more focused on actually playing than bantering back and forth.“Good luck,” Shjinji encouraged him.

“Thanks.This shouldn’t be too bad,” Kaworu said in reply.He shot a quick glance to Shinji and winked.Shinji’s blush had now progressed to full blown. _How is it that he manages to make me get distracted, no matter what he’s doing?It shouldn’t be legal!I guess that’s the best part.Just like — nope, bad Shinji!Let’s keep your thoughts PG.You wouldn’t want to get to ‘interested’ while you’re literally in the same room as everyone else._

While Shinji was preoccupied ‘purifying’ his mind before it could wander into any smutty territory, something which took a solid minute or two of focusing on more ‘boring’ thoughts, the players had managed to dispatch the attack ghouls in quite short order, a fact that didn’t particularly surprise Shinji.They knew what they were doing, not to mention the fact that Kaworu had proven himself to be an impressively proficient gamer when it came to his controller reflexes.However, now that their common enemy had been eliminated, Kensuke and Toji had once again resumed their standard argumentative regiment.

“I say we bust down the doors.Full frontal assault is the way to go here baby, one-hundred percent!Trust me, I’m a paladin!We literally can’t tell a lie, it’s against our basic moral code!”

“Oh yeah, because busting down the doors in games like this always goes so well for us.It never derails into a total party wipeout!”

“What do you mean?It goes great!Remember how we smashed through that whole brigade of soldiers in _Trojan War: Infinity_?That was epic!We were tossing bodies left and right like you wouldn’t even believe it!”

“Alright, and why don’t you conveniently forget about that one time playing _Spartans and Sea Serpents_?That was the end of our entire campaign, because you boldly led us right into the Gorgons’ ambush!”

“That doesn’t count, that’s a tabletop game!And it only happened anyway because Hikari’s a hard-ass GM who doesn’t like the negative HP rules!”

Hikari, of course, wasn’t going to let this criticism slide without any retaliation.“I’m a hard-ass GM, huh?!Well at least I’m capable of GMing!Remember the campaign you tried to run?”

Kensuke chimed in, “Yeah, talk about a train wreck!Your plot was like something Nicholas Cage would come up with if he tried his hand at rewriting _Lord of the Rings_!”

Toji objected vehemently to this accusation.“Get off my back, it was a masterpiece!And Nicholas Cage is a brilliant actor!One of the greatest minds of our time!”

“You’re so full of it man!,” Kensuke riposted.“Delusional, all the way!”

“You know,” Hikari began, “If we don’t actually get on with the quest, Rei and Shinji are never actually going to get a chance to even play.”

Grumbling and rolling their eyes, Kensuke and Toji reluctantly broke off their habitual bickering.“Oh, alright,” Toji agreed.

Shinji noticed a smirk cross Kaworu’s face as the group resumed gameplay.Bending in, Shinji laid his head against the ashen-haired boy’s shoulder.Kaworu didn’t try to move him away, instead brushing the side of his head against’s his boyfriend’s affectionately.Shinji’s eyes turned upward, to glimpse a considerate smile gracing Kaworu’s face as he regarded Shinji with glimmering eyes.“Comfortable?,” he asked quietly.Shinji gave a small nod against Kaworu’s shoulder.“Good,” Kaworu responded.“Hopefully I’m not too boney.”Shinji shook his head negatively to this.Kaworu’s eyebrows gave a single, playful bounce.

“Hey yo Kaworu, watch out, we got more of those beasties incoming!,” Toji called out.The moment was broken as Kaworu’s gaze snapped back to the tv decisively.Shinji had to resist letting a small sigh slip forth. _Don’t do it!Be strong!Resist the urge to be that obnoxiously head over heels!,_ he thought furiously, although the internal battle was something of a lost cause from the start.Kaworu’s bobbing brows had sent him careening down another ‘intriguing’ spiral of thoughts. _Oh no, not again!Why are you like this, brain?!You’ve betrayed me yet again!_ Shinji’s mind was nothing if not dramatically entertaining.

The company continued onward for a time without any further debates breaking out, while Shinji attempted to correct the course of his overly-zealous (though perhaps ‘passionate’ could be substituted to both greater effect and accuracy) mind. In an attempt to focus on something other than the fluttering, fluffy, and admittedly somewhat naughty conceptions his delinquent brain was formulating, Shinji shot a series of furtive glances in Rei’s direction whenever he noticed her head turned toward the door out the corner of his eye.This strategy was successful in readjusting his attention, as it sent his mind down a decidedly different, although less pleasant, path. 

Shinji noted that Rei’s movements had grown tenser since he first noticed her occasional glances toward the entryway. _It almost looks as if she’s getting more eager, or nervous, or whatever it is she’s feeling as time goes by.I wonder when Asuka’s going to get here.For her sake, I hope it’s soon.And she’d better show up.Because it’s probably going to hit Rei hard if she doesn’t.And she doesn’t deserve that.At all.If this Asuka doesn’t come through, then she—_

Shinji was dragged away from his mental concerns by a pointed comment from Hikari that was unambiguously referring to Kaworu and he.“Why can’t we be cute like that?,” she queried, nudging Toji’s shoulder pointedly.The recipient of the question turned to stare at her incredulously.“What do you mean?,” he protested.“We’re cute as hell!On the scale of chinchillas to kittens, we’re a solid hamster out of ten baby!”

This declaration succeeded in eliciting raised eyebrows from all those assembled.Kensuke burst out laughing.“Yeah, if your idea of cute is never-ending arguments!”

“Hey!,” both Toji and Hikari objected.“They end!,” Toji declared vehemently.

“When we’re sleeping!,” Hikari added with equal conviction.

“You two are hopeless,” Shinji observed with a quiet chuckle.

“And why the hell are you using chinchillas as a unit of measurement?,” Kensuke asked through his giggles.

“I’ll have you know, pets are a perfectly acceptable metric for determining cuteness my dude!,” Toji returned.

“Did you just compare me to a hamster?,” Hikari inquired, her voice growing sinister.

Facing criticism from multiple angles, Toji dropped his controller into his lap and threw up his hands indignantly.“I compared both of us to a hamster!It’s different!”

“It’s worse,” Kaworu tossed in impassively.

“Thank you!,”Hikari agreed firmly.She pointed toward Kaworu.“What he said!”

Toji rolled his eyes and snorted.“Aww, come on, what do you want from me?”

“Perhaps to help prevent us all from dying, given that we are under attack from what appears to be a trio of wraiths,” Kaworu offered calmly.Eyes snapped back to the screen and widened in alarm.

“Oh shit,” Toji said in a tone that suggested stupefaction.The players launched back into action, trying to avert their characters’ imminent demise.Shinji’s sight floated back over to his sister, to find that she was still devoted most of her attention to the door, scrutinizing it intensely.It didn’t appear as though the exclamations and general chaos had distracted her much from her watch.

Shinji resumed his pattern of splitting his attention between the game and Rei, spending the next several minutes doing so.It seemed as though she had lost interest in the game altogether, fixing her stare solely to the entryway.He noted that her hands had begun to fidget and flex in her lap.Looking back toward the rest of the group, he quickly ascertained that none of them were aware of this.In fact, it seemed as though they had little time or awareness for anything outside of a trap they had felt themselves caught within, and were now trying to disarm before they drowned.Kensuke, as was to be expected, was complaining about how it was all somehow Toji’s fault, while the defendant in questioned leveled similar accusations right back in the face of the prosecution, in a loop that was played out far past the point of being interesting, and even past the point of being irritating, having reached the state of simply being the norm.Hikari, also remaining true to her traditional part, was taking Kensuke rather than Toji’s, which only seemed to frustrate her boyfriend more, though Shinji knew well enough that all of his ostensible umbrage was more of a front or a facade than anything else, part of the aesthetic he cultivated.Nevertheless, the ostentatious squabble was a fairly gripping spectacle.Given how engaged the players were in their supposed quarrel (with the exception of Kaworu, who seemed primarily devoted to the game, pulling his weight to ensure the party wasn’t totally annihilated due to the other three’s lack of concentration), it was no surprise that they didn’t so much as hesitated when the doorbell rang. _Who knows if they even heard that.They’re definitely louder than it._

Shinji pried himself away from his boyfriend’s shoulder with just a hint of hesitation, planning to answer the door.However, this proved to be unnecessary, as Rei beat him to it, nearly vaulting from her seat in a verily uncharacteristic eruption of energy.The door flung open to reveal a tall girl sporting flaming red locks.She bore a composed, but approachable grin, which Shinji thought might have brightened just a bit as she took in the individual responsible for greeting.“Hey,” she began casually.

“Hello,” Rei replied, a slight inflection in her voice that Shinji knew was the equivalent to her positively beaming. _Wow.Don’t think I’ve ever heard her greet someone like that._

“How’s it going?,” Asuka asked.

“Alright,” Rei responded.

A brief awkward silence followed, both Rei and Asuka standing frozen, as if they were engaged in a high-stakes staring contest or something of the sort.Shinji, all but certain that it would be prudent for him to intervene, had broken away from Kaworu’s side, and was on the edge of his seat, about to stand, when Rei negated the need for such a response.

“Come on in,” Rei offered, stepping to the side to let Asuka pass.

“Thanks, I will,” Asuka replied with a slight laughter in her voice as she entered.

Rei closed the door behind the redhead and led her into the living room proper.Hikari, Toji, and Kensuke all remained fairly oblivious, locked in their tripartite antagonism as they were.Kaworu shot a quick glance over and smiled genially.Shinji rose from his seat.“I’m Shinji.Rei’s brother,” he introduced himself, extending his hand.Asuka looked down at it skeptically for a moment, and then shook it.Shinji quickly discovered that she possessed a formidable grip. _Guess I shouldn’t be surprised.She is a drummer after all.And . . . she didn’t look like she was too thrilled by the prospect of a handshake.Maybe that wasn’t the way to go. . ._ “Let me grab you a chair,” Shinji said smartly as he withdrew his hand.

“Thanks,” Asuka replied confidently with a nod, which Shinji returned.As he made for the dining room to retrieve said chair, he heard Rei introducing Asuka to the other members of the group, who in turn gave some acknowledgement of her presence.In fact, it sounded as though Toji, Hikari, and Kensuke even ceased their argument to welcome the new arrival. _Well, that’s certainly a good sign.I wasn’t sure if they were even going to notice she was here.Now . . . all I need to do is find out more about why Rei is acting so. . . uhhh, unusual? Yeah, that might be a poor choice of words there.Hmmm.All the same, time to find out what Asuka Kaji is like._


	4. The Only Way to Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game's afoot!

Rei felt that things had turned out better than some of her anxiety suggested they might.All things considered, Asuka seemed to be meshing well with the group.She certainly had enough mastery of snark to match up with the steady stream of tumultuous banner initiated by Toji and Kensuke.It appeared to Rei that Asuka was enjoying herself, which satisfied her greatly (perhaps more than she had anticipated, in fact, though she still was hesitant to dissect this particular sentiment, electing instead to take it at its face value, at least for the time being).Over the course of the afternoon, Asuka had seconded Hikari on several joke’s at the duo’s expense, which Rei took to be a positive sign, considering that playfully ‘harassing the Stooges’ (as Hikari referred to it) could very much be considered an integral ritual of the group.So far, Shinji had managed to escape from the majority of the humorous commentary, though several suggestive remarks had been made at the expense of Kaworu and he.Kaworu seemed to take such innuendo-laden wit in stride, playing right along, to the extent where he piled onto the initial ‘observation,’ often heightening the humor of it, in his typical mode of nonchalance.Her brother, on the other hand, handled most of the jests in a similar fashion: turning varying shades of red, laughing nervously, and trying to field some sort of come back that went awry without fail, only serving to heighten his embarrassment.Rei had the distinct feeling that Kaworu enjoyed flustering his boyfriend just as much as the rest of the group did, based on the grins that cracked across his face every time Shinji blushed furiously.Even Rei could see the entertainment value in it, though she did feel the slightest twinge of guilt at the ongoing shenanigans.At the same time, all of it was meant as ‘good fun,’ so to speak, and furthermore, it was undeniable that her brother brought some of it upon himself, given that his over-the-top reactions only seemed to encourage additional teasing.It was a dynamic not unlike that which existed between Kensuke and Toji, or Toji and Hikari for that matter.Each one seemed all too pleased to continue with the very habits that were, at least superficially, the source of their ‘woes.’Their complaints came across as humorous formalities, almost scripted, rather than genuine expressions of displeasure.

In all truthfulness, Rei was glad for the antics that surrounded the group’s gameplay.It kept her fairly engaged, even when the game being played itself wasn’t all that interesting to her (something which was turning out to be the case this afternoon, as both of the quests the group had played through had turned out to be somewhat boring combat-filled slogs in her opinion, and after completing them, the majority of the people present had elected to switch over to a free-for-all death match that was just about as tedious as far as she was concerned).She appreciated the engagement.It kept her occupied, gave her something to focus on.She wanted that focus more than usual at the moment, because it helped her avoid confronting some of the other thoughts, and for that matter, feelings _,_ that were cropping up across her mind.These unruly mental constructs were as irritating as they were difficult to ignore.Rei decided that an appropriate metaphor to characterize them was that of weeds growing up through a flowerbed.Though one might attempt to focus on the flowers, the conspicuous presence of weeds was one which detracted from the view, and couldn’t easily be dismissed.There was no way to merely appreciate the flowers’ beauty, without also noticing the unwanted growths around them.Of course, this entire image had one fundamental flaw when it came to serving as a metaphor for Rei’s thoughts: Rei wasn’t particularly interested in looking at the flowers.In fact, she was more than a little tempted to devote most of her attention looking at the weeds.Though their formation was quite irregular, given the composition of her visualized mental garden, and substantially intimidating and unnerving as a result, their abnormality was also alluring.They did instead stand out within the flowerbeds, however much she tried to turn herself toward the recognizable roses or the irises with which she was intimately familiar, the newcomers’ unidentified blooms proved nigh irresistible.They invited her to breathe them in and investigate their hues, a prospect which made her heart thump harder in her chest, though out of excitement or apprehension, she couldn’t fully tell.The inability to define even that much only disarmed her further, flooding back into a loop of feedback.The crew’s capers were a welcome distraction, a reprieve from her interior trials.When there was a carnival occurring in the backyard, it was a little easier to pry her eyes away from the garden and watch its performances instead.All the same, the weeds took their toll.She had noticed her hands fidgeting and her shoulders twitching earlier, unconscious actions that she had only brought under control through concentrating on stilling herself.Even now, there was no way to repudiate the tingling, fuzzy sort of feeling that flushed her ears and made her chest cavity tremble beneath the cover of her skin.She had yet to find a way to bring about its demise.She wasn’t altogether sure she want to do so anyway.That seemed to be par for the course these days.The past two weeks had brought more uncertainty to her decisions than she had known in several years.

She knew her brother had noticed it.If not before last night, then most definitely today.She could tell that he had been watching her, doing his best to do so inconspicuously.His attempts to be covert were lost in vain, though Rei wasn’t about to reveal this.She didn’t feel like instilling any more guilt in him.She suspected that he was thoroughly bemused, if not downright alarmed, by the recent fluctuations in her behavior.He had certainly seemed borderline bamboozled the previous night.She resented her jittery state today, as it no doubt only drew more of his attention and perplexed him further.At this point, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was altogether baffled by her changes in her disposition.Though some would have overlooked the more subtle shifts, such as the physical twitches, she knew that her brother was far too familiar with her demeanor to do so.It was all but guaranteed that he was probably still trying to put together the pieces.She thought it probable that he had narrowed the causes for her before down to Asuka.That was, after all, the logical force behind them, and the true one as well, though that was something which Rei tried to avoid dwelling on for too longer, as it tugged her mental attention back in the garden’s direction.With this in mind, she assumed it would be equally likely that he would try to find out as much as he could about Asuka.This seemed a rational course of action.She wasn’t disappointed in this regard, as her suspicions were proven right, though not to the degree that she thought they might be.Shinji didn’t attempt to interrogate Asuka, and the questions he did ask were fit into the fold of the group’s conversation naturally, to the extent that it merely seemed as though he was, like the rest of the group, getting acquainted with the redhead.This was a process that Rei found fairly eye-opening.She came to the realization that she hadn’t really talked to Asuka about many non-music related topics, and a good portion of what Asuka told the others about herself was information that Rei hadn’t possessed before today.Another realization followed this: that Rei wanted to talk to Asuka more.Of course, this realization came with its own set of implications and possibilities, but Rei opted not to study them too closely.It was better merely to accept some things, rather than to question them.

Midway through the afternoon, Rei picked up on the fact that despite Shinji not interrogating Asuka, and keeping his questions pleasant and amicable, the redhead had now fallen under his surveillance patterns, alongside Rei.Asuka gave no sign that she was aware of this, though Rei knew it was dangerous to take said fact at face value, as she herself was aware of her brother’s actions, and gave no sign of it.At the same time, she had a strong hunch that if Asuka did become aware of Shinji’s subtle glances, she probably wouldn’t take it as passively as Rei.In spite of the fact that she strongly suspected it would bother Asuka, Shinji’s strategy didn’t particularly bother Rei.She had a good idea of what his intentions were, and they were benign.He was also being subtle enough that it wasn’t a blatant invasion of privacy or anything of the sort.Just the occasional look, pondering, examining.She supposed that coming from some people, it would have seemed a little more menacing, but coming from Shinji, it was mostly non-threatening.As protective as he could be of Rei, he was never the particularly sinister sort.It wasn’t in his nature.When the more assertive, aggressive facet of his personality emerged, it was usually prompted by concern for someone he cared about.Otherwise, it lay dormant in some distant plane of his psyche.

A voice pierced Rei’s thoughts, reducing them to slivers and chips.Well, not just any voice.Asuka’s voice, to be specific.Rei had not failed to note that her ears seemed more attentive when Asuka was the one speaking, even in her current state of self-reflection.A simple answer for why this might be the case could have been that Rei was more adept at tuning out the relentless ranting and rambling originating from Kensuke and Toji (a rational explanation based on several pieces of information: they were the loudest of the group by far, they rarely said anything that was of serious importance to Rei, and Rei had had years of experience in ignoring their verbal sparring), whereas she was much less experienced when it came to blocking out Asuka’s voice, given their nascent acquaintance (for reasons relatively unbeknownst, at least to the surface of her mind, a mist of nervousness still pervaded the area surrounding the word ‘friendship’ in reference to Asuka).Yet, this explanation felt insufficient to her.It was an inadequate, inaccurate excuse.All the same, it was the explanation Rei settled on, shying away from the one which appeared to hold the greater truth: that she was very much interested in hearing whatever it was Asuka had to say.However, regardless of the explanation Rei stuck with for her selective hearing, she knew the end result would remain the same.Either way, she would hear the same question:

“Want to help me out?”

This query was a point of confusion for Rei.She hadn’t been paying enough attention to the situation to know exactly what was going on at this point, too consumed with her mental meandering.She glanced at Asuka uncertainly, coming to the epiphany that as a result of her lack of knowledge, there was a decent chance that however she chose to proceed, she might very well end up looking stupid.The best option then, was to be direct and get the inevitable over with.“With what?”

“The game,” Asuka replied with an amused tilt in her voice, her eyebrow arching as she motioned toward the screen.Rei followed the gesture.It appeared as though the previous match had come to a close while Rei had been preoccupied with her internal affairs.In addition, the game mode had been changed, to team showdown.One team was complete, consisting of Shinji and Kaworu.The other was only half-filled, with Asuka occupying one slot.The nature of the question became clear.Asuka was asking Rei to round out her team.

Rei hadn’t planned on playing at all this afternoon.She had been more than content to be purely an observing, watching whatever absurdity would undoubtedly unfold, as it always did when The Stooges (not to mention Hikari) were involved.It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy _Cleric’s Call._ There were most definitely some enjoyable aspects to the game.In truth, she merely was uninterested in playing on this particular.Or, at least, she had been uninterested in playing.As she processed Asuka’s request, Rei found her sentiments in that department shifting.Shifting rather significantly, to be precise, until they had completed a full one-eighty.Suddenly, inextricably (well, not altogether inextricably), joining in on the game didn’t seem like such a bad idea to Rei.In fact, it appeared to be a moderately enticing option.Especially when she took into account that she would be playing alongside Asuka.Rei explained her own enthusiasm to the more analytical side of herself by arguing that this was only an appealing possibility because she preferred Rei’s playing style over some of the styles some of the other members of the group practiced.This wasn’t a lie, per se, but it still felt duplicitous at best, and an utterly delusional shot at deception at worst.As flat as the argument fell, Rei’s judgment was swayed.

“Okay,” she said with a minuscule nod.

“Awesome,” Asuka responded.

“Good luck,” Kensuke remarked as he passed the controller he had been using down toward Rei. 

“Thanks,” she said quietly, a she accepted it from her brother’s hands.

“We don’t need luck, we’re gonna kick your asses,” Asuka said, a note of competition-charged haughtiness in her tone.

“Oh really?,” Toji challenged.“From what I’ve seen, I’d say Kaworu’s the second best gamer here.After myself that is.And my man Shinji can pull his weight with the best of them.You’re going down!”

This declaration elicited mixed reactions.Kensuke and Hikari chose to point out, and subsequently mock, the fact that Toji had put himself in front of Kaworu, whereas the opposite was clearly true.Kaworu merely raised an eyebrow, looking wholly entertained.Shinji rolled his eyes.“Funny how you’d be the one to say that, Toji,” he observed in a deadpan.

“Someone had to!,” Toji proclaimed boldly.

Asuka didn’t appear in the least cowed.“I’m pretty sure he can speak for himself, you know,” she said with the same cocksure edge in her voice as before.“So, Kaworu, Shinji, what do you say?Are you shaking in your shoes?Or do you think it’s gonna be a walk in the park?”

Shinji shrugged.“Well, I’d say you’re both pretty good.But I’ve got Kaworu on my side . . . so I’m not too worried.”

Kaworu nodded.“I’ve got Shinji on my side,” he remarked in his trademark casual timbre.“What do I have to worry about?”

The compliment brought a slight blush to Shinji’s face.It had no such effect on Asuka.“Oh, how romantic,” she drawled, her voice dripping with provocation.“We’ll see if you’re so sure after this all goes down!”She turned to Rei again.“You ready to rumble?”

“Indeed,” Rei confirmed, apparently apathetic as usual as she joined Asuka’s team and outfitted her character.Her thoughts, however, were not so apathetic. On the contrary, they were becoming progressively more and more invested in achieving victory.Rei wasn’t the competitive type.At least, not as far as she knew.Why then, did winning the match now feel both desirable and imperative?Asuka and her braggadocious pronouncements were no doubt responsible.Yet, Rei lacked any compunctions to assign Asuka the blame.

“It’s time to get this show on the road,” Asuka announced authoritatively.Rei couldn’t help but concur.It was apparent that the rest of the group held similar sentiments as well.

“Aww yeah!”Toji pumped his fist with his classic machismo.“Let’s rock and roll!Drum roll please!”Seeing no one leaping into action to meet the demand, he ended up fulfilled his own request, slapping his hands against his thighs in a moderately rhythmic pattern (though one which certainly could have benefited from both the use of a metronome, and a basically sense of timing.All the same, how difficult could it truly be to pull off a simply drumroll?Somehow, Toji managed to make it look like quite an arduous feat indeed, by sheer virtue of how abysmally he failed at it).This action produced a sound which bore little to no resemblance to a snare drum, and instead brought to Rei’s mind the image of someone belly flopping against a hard surface repeatedly.It was not the most pleasant conception.

“You’re so cringey, we should call you Shinji!,” Hikari declared with a skilled roll of her eyes, carrying out the motion with such ocular dexterity that it could only be called artful.

“Hey, what’d I do?,” Shinji complained.Laughter filled the room again, but it quickly died down once more as Kaworu began the match.


	5. Anytime At All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight trigger warning for any Nickelback fans who happen to be reading this fic: prepare to see the band you love dissed by the one and only Asuka xD (sorry, not sorry).

Asuka sank down onto her pillow comfortably, letting the plush cushion support her skull.Her body relaxed, going limp as she let the entire of it rest gently on her mattress.She considered pulling the covers up, but decided it was too hot for so much as a sheet, let alone her comforter.She was content to let them stay pooled somewhere around her calves. _Summer’s here are definitely worse than back East.This heat feels like it has a mind of its own, and its number one goal is turning everyone in this city into a bunch of giant pink raisins, like its some sort of diabolical, gargantuan dehydrator.Okay, gross image, why the hell did I just think of that?Are you kidding me, imagination?That’s the best you could come up with?That doesn’t even make sense.That would be a dry heat, not this slimy one that sticks all over you like bad spray tan on a celeb.Not the good kind of celeb either.I’m talking Adam Levine-type here.Huh, Adam Levine with a bad tan . . . that’s rough, but probably not as bad as things can get.Hmmm.How about Chad Kroeger with a bad fake tan.Yikes.There’s a mental image I didn’t need.Ugh.That’s worse than the giant dehydrator demon.‘Chad Kroeger: Ghost of Spray Tans Past.’Talk about nightmare fuel.Let’s not go down that road.I’d prefer not to wake up wanting to wash my insides out because I dreamed of Nickelback.Pretty sure I’d need to deep-clean my brain after that._

Asuka brought her focus back to the physical state of her room, dismissing any and all thoughts of demons, both of the musical and dehydrator variety.Despite the temperature—and the humidity—,the atmosphere in the space wasn’t completely unpleasant.The fan affixed to the ceiling above her twirled rhythmically, spinning the air about and providing a much-needed source of reprieve from what would have otherwise been an unbearably stifling heat.The steady, predictable noise it gave off (a gentle whirring, interspersed with soft rustling as it moved papers somewhere off in the dim light) had a tranquil, easy quality to it that Asuka had grown used to listening to while she drifted off to sleep each night.That time, however, hadn’t quite arrived yet.She still had a good fifteen minutes or so of cogent thought left in her, by her estimate.She let her hand, which she had started to extend out to switch off her lamp, drop limp back to her side. _I’ll keep it on until I’m ready to crash.When my thoughts are actually just a jumbled, incoherent mess.’Til then, I’m awake enough to think . . . mostly.Might not be able to direct where my mind wanders all that well, but the gears are still turning, and the engine’s still running, so why not go for a ride?_

Asuka rolled onto her side, shaping her body into a figure that would have been vaguely recognizable as something similar to a question mark, had anyone been able to view it from an aerial perspective.Her head bowed in ever so slightly, while her knees curled up and her should sagged forward a bit.It was a comfortable, habitual position. _The perfect shape for thinking, if I do say so myself.And as long as the light’s on, I’m not in too much danger of passing out halfway through a thought._

_Today was a good day.I’d say the afternoon went pretty well.Rei’s brother and his friends . . . well, I would say they weren’t what I was expecting, but honestly, I can’t act like I was expecting much of anything.I didn’t think they’d be like Rei.If they were, that would be . . . unexpected.Not necessarily in a bad way.Just unexpected.Although, it probably would have been hard to carry on much of a conversation if they had all been the stoic sort.I can appreciate the value of being taciturn, but when everybody’s tight-lipped, things can get a little awkward.I guess some people don’t mind gaming in total silence.Probably helps them concentrate.They can imagine they’re a professional or something, and really devote themselves to the game.Who knows?I think that sounds boring as all hell.Why game with other people if you’re not even going to bother interacting with them?_

_Shinji and his friends definitely don’t have that problem though.I’m pretty sure they care more about the banter than the actual games.Except for Kaworu.Maybe.He looks like he cares more about Shinji than the games.Those looks he kept shooting the poor guy’s way weren’t exactly subtle.Neither were the blushes he got out of him.Either Rei’s brother is head over heels, in that floating on cloud nine kind of honeymoon stage, or they have some sort of secret language, and Kaworu was sending him some pretty risqué messages through eye contact alone.And shoulder contact, I suppose.Don’t think you can get that dirty with shoulders though.They’re not exactly that, uh, sexy?I mean, it’s a shoulder.Just how much suggestive stuff can you really do with a shoulder?Actually . . . that’s a stupid question to ask.Somebody’s probably into that sort of thing.Anyhow . . . focus Asuka.Stop thinking about smutty shoulders (because yes, that’s a term you just coined, don’t you regret it already?)._

_Honestly, they’re a pretty cute couple.Not that I’d tell them so.If I did, Shinji’d probably pass out or something equally ridiculous.Maybe he’d ‘squee.’He seems like the type of guy who’d ‘squee’ if someone told him his boyfriend and he were cute together.Kaworu, on the other hand, would probably just say something along the lines of, ‘yeah, I know that,’ and play it off as if it were basically a given fact.I got the impression that not much ruffles his feathers.Also, why is that an expression?What are we, birds?Who wants to use birds as a metaphor?Am I the only person who finds that obnoxious?_

_Aaaannnnddd, sidetracked again.Function brain, I command thee!Do thy mistress’s bidding!And other authoritative shit like that!Now, where was I?Oh yeah, Kaworu not being bothered by much.Like the Toji’s and Kensuke’s collective shenanigans.Actually, I should probably lump Hikari in that statement too, even if she did come across as a pretty cool person.I’d be down to get to know her.But she was definitely a guilty party in . . . well, whatever they were doing.It was almost like they were reciting from a script they had memorized.If I’m being honest, it was just the tiniest bit unnerving.It seemed like they knew exactly which insult they were going to make, and exactly what comeback to use after it.I mean, I’m all for inside jokes, I’ve had my fair share of them before, but come on, that’s just taking things to a whole new level.I don’t think I could commit to that complex of a bit.And if they were just improving all of those hysterics, then why the hell are they athletes instead of thespians?At least, I think they’re athletes.They referenced the track team a couple times, and I’m pretty Shinji made a comment about that too.Which would imply they’re all in track together.Or at least Toji, Kensuke, and Shinji are.I don’t know about Kaworu, he doesn’t quite seem like the type, but who knows, it’s a definite possibility.Toji, on the other hand, I’m one-hundred percent sure is an athlete.Probably plays multiple sports.He’s practically a caricature of a the stereotypical jock character from an 80s movie.And then a little extra dash of drama on top of that.Although . . . in his defense, he didn’t seem quite as big of an asshole as those guys usually tend to be.He just has the same, so try-hard masculine it’s painful to watch.Like he’s hopped up on “Be a Man” from Mulan, distilled in steroid form, twenty-four-seven.If he looked more like a bodybuilder, and less like a basketball player, I’d advise him to consider a career in wrestling.As in, WWE._

_Kensuke, on the other hand . . . I don’t really know what to make of him.He seems a bit on the eccentric side.As in, the obsessed with things that no one else cares about type of person.He actually ranted about the different types of ‘pole-arms’ in the game, and how some of them were anachronisms, based on when the game was supposed to be set.And I’m a solid seventy-five percent sure that was all serious, and not just some extended joke.If it was, then he has my respect, because he was dedicated to it.But assuming it wasn’t . . . errrrrrrr, well, I guess I heard the word ‘pole-arm’ out loud for the first time outside of a table-top game.Did not see that coming.The guy seemed like he had a decent enough sense of humor though, whoever weird he might be, so I guess he’s got something going for him._

_Hikari seems like an instigator.Which I can appreciate.I like someone who’s not afraid to start a fire when one needs to be started.She also seems pretty on top of what’s going on.As in, perceptive and confident.I feel like we’d get along excellently.I’ll probably try to talk to her more if I hang out with all of them again, considering we didn’t really talk at all today, which is honestly a shame.I also need to ask her what she sees in Toji, aside from a constant source of entertainment, because she could definitely be dating someone far more tolerable if she wanted to be._

_I think there’s a decent chance I’ll see the lot of them again.Probably more than a decent chance, actually.Shinji essentially invited me to come over again right before I headed home, even if it wasn’t in so many words.To be fair, that was after Rei and I kicked both his and his boyfriend’s asses (I’d say we made a damn fine team, and they should definitely have been afraid, even if Kaworu was almost as good as I am.Emphasis on the almost there), so there’s a possibility he just wants payback.He took that loss a little too well, if you ask me.Either way, I’ll be happy to beat him again.He doesn’t stand a chance._

_I liked Rei’s friends.Well, her brother’s friends.It’s strange that she called them that, because it seemed as though she was part of the group just as much as the rest of them were, even if she didn’t talk much.I was the outsider, not her.But maybe that’s just how she views it.That would make more sense._

_Speaking of Rei, she was . . . well, she was Rei today.She was herself.At least, I think she was.She was definitely carrying herself different than she has when just the two of us have hung out before, but not to the extent of it seeming strange for her.She seemed more vigorous today though.As if she had more energy moving through her.Almost as if she was more alive.It was . . . it was . . ._

_Dammit, why the hell am I blushing right now?!Come on!So what if it was attractive, and endearing, and other stupid terms that basically mean the same thing?!It’s just a crush, it’s normal!And it’s not like I saw that sliver of glint in her eye when she agreed to join in for that last round, and kept falling back to it across the whole game to motivate me!And it’s definitely not like I saw her smile, or half-smile, which is basically the same as a full smile from her, when we won, and then couldn’t get that image out of my head for the rest of the evening!Or that I still can’t get it out of my head!And that it’s— ughhhh!Why am I like this?!Brain, brain, hello?Asuka’s to Asuka’s emotional control center.This is an urgent PSA, telling you to get your shit together and stop crushing on your neighbor!Figure yourself out, okay?_

Asuka flipped herself over onto her opposite side, glaring toward her lamp. _Alright, I think it’s about time to sleep.Fingers crossed that I dream about something not related to dehydrators.Or garbage music.Something decent.Like the next chapter of my fic.Because that’d be helpful.I could even put in an author’s note about how I ‘received this chapter in a vision.’I have readers who would totally eat that shit up._

_You know, maybe what I need is a new OC.Someone original though . . . not just a ripoff of a character from another fandom.Maybe a love interest for one of the mains.Like a girl with blue — NOPE!Not doing that!It’s your bedtime Asuka!_

Asuka reached out and flicked off the lamp with an irritated huff.The room gave itself over into the waiting embrace of darkness.The sleep Asuka sought, however, was more reticent.When it did at last arrive, it brought dreams with it.Dreams of azure skies trapped within strands of tumbling hair, and eyes that captured the rain-soaked earth within them.


End file.
